Affiliations: Occupational Medicine and Health Protection
Department, BASF Societas Europaea, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Mei Yong, Occupational Medicine and
Health Protection Department, BASF Societas Europaea, BASF SE, GUA/CS –
H306, Ludwigshafen, Germany. Tel.: +49 621 60 93860; E-mail:
mei.yong@basf.com
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To examine perceived stress across employees with
different occupational status, to investigate the impact of stress on work
ability and to derive conclusions regarding health promotion activities. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A comprehensive survey combining
questionnaire and medical examination was offered in one division in BASF
Ludwigshafen. Among 867 voluntary participants, 653 returned complete
questionnaires. The questions were directed at perception of safety at the
workplace, self-rated health status, frequency of stress symptoms, unrealistic
job demands, time pressure and maladjustment of work life balance. The outcome
of interest was self-estimated health measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI).
RESULTS: Occupational stressors were perceived differently across
occupational status groups. Frontline operators had more health concerns due to
workplace conditions, while professional and managerial staff reported higher
frequencies of perceived tension, time pressure, and maladjustment of work life
balance. After adjustment for occupational status, demographic and lifestyle
factors, perceived stress was associated with a modest to strong decline in WAI
scores. CONCLUSION: While perceived occupational stress had an apparent
impact on WAI, and WAI has been demonstrated to be predictive of early
retirement, more intensive and employee group-specific stress management
interventions are being implemented beyond traditional strategies of routine
occupational medical surveillance.
Keywords: Work Ability Index, risk factors, screening, health surveillance, health promotion, cross-sectional study
